Welsh actress Dame Siân Phillips has a long and illustrious career in theater, film, and TV. She entered London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the same year as Glenda Jackson and Diana Rigg, and much like her contemporaries, is best known in America for a historical drama that aired on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater. Or perhaps you remember her as the the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in the original Dune (1984)? While her sci-fi, thriller, and modern acting work is substantial, you know we’re here for the frock flicks, so let’s do this!
Gwendolen in Becket (1964)
Ursula Mossbank in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Hayden in Murphy’s War (1971)
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst in Shoulder to Shoulder (1974)
Beth Morgan in How Green Was My Valley (1975-1976)
Livia in I, Claudius (1976)
Queen Boudicca in Warrior Queen (1978)
Katerina Ivanovna in Crime and Punishment (1979)
Lady Ripon in Nijinsky (1980)
Clementine Churchill in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981)
Annabella Rock in The Doctor and the Devils (1985)
Miss Matilda Crawley in Vanity Fair (1987)
Madame de Volanges in Valmont (1989)
Lady Isabel in “The Trial,” Covington Cross (1992)
Mrs. Archer in The Age of Innocence (1993)
Queen Eleanor in Ivanhoe (1997)
Narrator / Older Lady Emily in Aristocrats (1999)
Anna Maria in Miss Dalí (2018)
Margaret Corey in Summerland (2020)
What’s your favorite of Siân Phillips’ historical costume roles?
1997 ivanhoe was very much not accurate to the medieval era, no not at all. one of my friends credits ronald pickup with saving his daughters life on the set though, the director treated the extras very badly, several went down with heatstroke from being kept in the sun and denied water(they had pallettes of water, they jsut wouldn’t let anyone have any) – almost including the child in question, whom pickup surrounded with fans and supplied copius water to
I adore Sian Phillips. She’s got one of those boney, expressive faces that age so well. But to be honest I remember her best as Lady Anne Smiley in Smiley’s People which is not a costume drama.
Livia in I Claudius is my all-time favourite. I also liked her as Clemmie Churchill and Reverend Mother Gaius Helen.
That’s definitely not Sian Philips as Lady Ripon in Nijinsky. I first discovered her in I Claudius. She’s a powerhouse actress.
Came to say the same thing
I’m fairly sure it’s ballerina Carla Fracci, who played Tamara Karsavina.
Thank you! I adored Livia in I, Claudius!
Another Livia fan–so many riches to choose from! Her little supper with Rome’s most notorious poisoner. That final admission to her grandson: “Claudius…I want to be a goddess!” Dame Siân never disappoints.
I’m also a Livia fan, as one of her best is the speech she gives to the gladiators, plus the line “Don’t touch the figs.” I also loved her in The Aristocrats as well.
Is that Patricia Quinn with her in the still from SHOULDER TO SHOULDER?
Even though it’s not period, her costume in DUNE (1984) is wonderful, with a great deal of craftsmanship in the design.
In the trailers for the 2020 remake, it looks like poor Charlotte Rampling just had a nylon mesh laundry bag put over her head.
Yep, great seeing the I Clavdivs b*tches together again (or, I guess, first!)
Oh yes! I love RM’s long, swirling veil!
I, too, thought she was fabulous as Livia. Thank you for this delightful overview.
I Clavdivs, Shoulder to Shoulder….ohhh she gave me some thrills back in the day. And most recently [if not frocky] she played a gloriously snarky older dyke role in ‘Time and Again’ https://divamag.co.uk/2020/02/28/screen-dame-sian-phillips-and-brigit-forsyth-star-in-lez-bi-short-time-again/
She still gives me tingles lol
I will always remember her as Livia; she was fantastic in the role; as if it were written for her. I did not know that she played Gwendolen in “Becket” – wow!
Her Livia was the original, the undeniable female Roman magnate, the Uber-Matriarch, the Ur-Domina. Such power, wielded so skillfully and subtly. Polly Wallker’s Atia of the Julii isn’t fit to carry her sandals, and she wasn’t no slouch!
Having said that, and I know it’s not a Frock Flick, but an image of her beautiful bald head in her magisterial black gown and styles Spanish hood and veil as The Reverend Mother would have actually fit right in here. The styling of the Bene Geserits as an order of badass bald Goth buns with psychic powers is idea that still lingers.
er…. “order of badass bald Goth nuns with psychic powers
Gotta hold up the flame for one of my favorites…The Age of Innocence! I still swoon thinking of how hot Daniel Day-Lewis looked in that film! This actress’s face reminds of Shelia Hancock (who I know from the British TV show Delicious and A Discovery of Witches season 2).
Before Cersei Lannister and that bitch from Rome There was Livia in I Claudius and she is my all time favorite
Ironically before playing Clementine she was in Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill (1974) as Mrs Patrick Campbell the woman who stole The Second husband from Winston’s mom
When will Shoulder to Shoulder will get a snark? It got a Story and has Stars